Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this week, specifically June 19, people all across the Nation are engaging in the oldest known observance of the ending of slavery, Juneteenth Independence Day. It was on June 19, 1865, when African Americans in the Southwest received the news from Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, that the enslaved were free. This was 2\1/2\ years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January, 1, 1863, and months after the conclusion of the Civil War. For more than 145 years, descendants of slaves have observed this anniversary of emancipation as a remembrance of one of the most tragic periods of our Nation's history. The suffering, degradation and brutality of slavery cannot be repaired, but the memory can serve to ensure that no such inhumanity is ever perpetrated again on American soil. Today, 42 States, the District of Columbia, and several other countries, including Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, recognize Juneteenth Independence Day with special activities in commemoration of the emancipation of all slaves in the United States. We also celebrate Juneteenth across the country in large measure because of the efforts of Lula Briggs Galloway, of Saginaw, MI, whose efforts to promote recognition of Juneteenth played a major role in the passage of the first resolution on Juneteenth Independence Day by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, in 1997.…”